Creating your first stock trade

The trade entry window

When you log a trade in Quaderno, you do it from the trade entry window — a single, full‑screen form that captures everything about the trade in one place. It's organized top‑to‑bottom into a few areas:

• Asset class — a row of toggles at the top (Stock, Options, Futures, Forex, Crypto). For a stock trade you'll pick Stock. Only the classes your chosen account supports are selectable.
• Account & Portfolio — where the trade is booked. Pick the account, then the portfolio within it that the trade belongs to (your account's default portfolio is selected for you).
• Asset details — the heart of the entry: the direction (Long / Short), the symbol, and optional order details like order type, stop price, and target price.
• Executions (“Trade Groups”) — where you record the actual fills. Each execution carries its own date & time, price, quantity, and fees. A trade can be a single entry, or an entry plus one or more scale‑ins/outs and an exit.
• Journaling (optional but recommended) — Setup Grade, Tags, a Trading Plan to pin the trade to, your mood/emotional state, and notes. These are what power your analytics, breakdowns, and plan‑compliance scoring later.

You don't have to fill in everything — symbol and account/portfolio are required, the rest is as much detail as you want to keep. You can also log a trade that's still open (just an entry) and add the exit later when you close it.

How to create a stock trade

1. Open the entry window. Click New Trade (or Log a trade from the dashboard / Trades page).
2. Choose the asset class. Select Stock from the toggles at the top.
3. Pick the account and portfolio. Choose the account the trade belongs to; the portfolio defaults to that account's default — change it if the trade belongs in another book.
4. Set the direction and symbol. Choose Long or Short, then type the symbol (e.g. AAPL) — recently traded tickers autocomplete as you type.
5. (Optional) Add order details. Set the order type and, if you use them, a stop price and target price. A stop also unlocks Quaderno's risk math (risk‑per‑trade, R‑multiples).
6. Record the entry execution. In Trade Groups, enter the entry's date & time, price, and quantity, plus any fees/commissions. Add more executions if you scaled in — and add an exit execution if the trade is already closed.
7. (Optional) Journal it. Give the setup a grade, add tags, pick a Trading Plan to pin it to, and jot your mood and notes.
8. Click “Save Trade.” The trade is recorded and appears in your Trades list, on the dashboard, and across your analytics.

Tips

• A stop is worth adding. Even an estimated stop lets Quaderno compute your risk and R‑multiple, which feed the daily risk budget, the “Today's R” tile, and your analytics.
• Pin it to a plan. Selecting a Trading Plan attaches the trade to your rules, so it counts toward your compliance % and the dashboard's guardrails / “Clear to trade?” signals. (See Creating a trading plan.)
• Open now, close later. If the position is still live, just log the entry — come back and add the exit execution when you close, and Quaderno will compute the realized P&L.
• Times are in your zone. Execution timestamps display and bucket in your configured timezone, so “today's” trades land on the right day. (See your timezone in Settings → Display & Locale.)